Inhoudsopgave van 2022-09-15 - Mercury

the police have opened a case of six counts of murder following the discovery of six bodies of suspected illegal miners along the N1 highway near Bosmont in Gauteng yesterday morning. The bodies, which were scattered in three separate locations, were recovered by the police and members of the forensics team who are now investigating the circumstances that led to the shooting. Police officers, forensic pathologists, Gauteng traffic police and the Joburg Metro Police Department were at the scene all morning yesterday, combing the area for evidence. Speaking to the media, Gauteng police spokesperson Brenda Muridili said the six people were thought to be illegal miners. She said their bodies were riddled with multiple gunshot wounds. “We have yet to determine the motive for the shooting and the nationalities…

The coronation of King Misuzulu kaZwelithini is going ahead despite a last-minute court challenge by his half-brother, Prince Simakade, who wants him to be dethroned. Yesterday Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the traditional prime minister of the Zulu monarch and nation, announced that the coronation would take place at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on October 29. Buthelezi said all other details would be announced in due course. It is expected that the ceremony will be attended by international guests, including royal families from Africa and abroad. “On behalf of His Majesty King Misuzulu kaZwelithini it gives me tremendous pleasure to announce the date for the handing over ceremony of the certificate by the President of the Republic (Cyril Ramaphosa) to the King of the Zulu Nation. “The ceremony will take…

Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Dr Blade Nzimande has appointed Professor Themba Mosia as an independent assessor to investigate affairs at Unisa. Mosia is the vice-principal for student life at the University of Pretoria, Council on Higher Education chairperson and previously served as the administrator at the Tshwane University of Technology. Nzimande has given Mosia 90 days to complete his work. Unisa, Africa’s largest open distance learning institution, has been plagued by protests that delayed graduation ceremonies a few months ago and trade union federation Cosatu has called for principal and vice-chancellor Professor Puleng LenkaBula to be placed on precautionary suspension until investigations ordered by Nzimande are concluded. LenkaBula is accused of poor management, maladministration and displaying an authoritarian management style. In May, Independent Media reported that an investigation…

French independent power producer HDF Energy expects its green hydrogen power plant in Namibia, Africa’s first, to start producing electricity by 2024, a senior company executive said this week. Once operational, the N$3.1 billion Swakopmund project will supply clean electricity power, 24 hours a day all-year round, boosting electricity supply in a nation that imports around 40% of its power from neighbouring South Africa. Namibia, one of the world’s sunniest and least densely populated countries, wants to harness its vast potential for solar and wind energy to produce green hydrogen and position the country as a renewable energy hub in Africa. Hydrogen is categorised “green” when it is made with renewable power and is seen as key to help decarbonise industry, though the technology remains immature and relatively costly. The…

THE SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and Cosatu have welcomed the reinstatement of 223 Newcastle Municipality workers who were dismissed almost three years ago. This follows an order handed down by the Labour Court in Durban after Samwu and Newcastle Municipality resolved to settle the matter. The workers were dismissed in November 2019 due to strike action. In terms of the agreement, all 223 workers who were dismissed must be reinstated as of October 1 under the condition that “the respondent (municipality) is to pay each applicant retrospective pay of 12 months which is staggered over a period of 12 months, starting from this coming December. “The payments will be done in portions of three months”. Samwu chairperson in KZN Sthembiso Dlamini said investigations had revealed that only 61 of…

AN AMERICAN, John Lewis, gets 50 000 tweets a year from people mistaking him for the British retail chain. Now a woman, Liz Trussel, is being contacted by people who think she’s the new British prime minister. She’s even been approached by the Swedish prime minister wanting to set up a meeting, according to Sky News. Trussell nabbed the Twitter handle @LizTruss before the new Tory leader (who goes by @trussliz) took over in Downing Street. She has been treating it with great levity and enjoyment. Her reply to Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson: “Looking forward to a visit soon! Get the meatballs ready.” Other exchanges: Caroline Lucas, the co-leader of the Green Party: “@LizTruss still doesn’t get it – Boris Johnson did *not* get Brexit done, his myriad mistakes…

Imtiaz Fazel, who has roots in Benoni on the East Rand, was nominated by Parliament to be our next inspector-general of Intelligence. The function of the inspector-general is to investigate complaints about the activities of the Intelligence Agency. Our sad history of intrusion by those in the corridors of power, using intelligence to score political points, will now come to an end. Fazel is a person of quiet charisma with graciousness, integrity and distinction. Section 7 of the Intelligence Services Oversight Act 40 of 1994 provides that the inspector-general will monitor intelligence and counter-intelligence activities of the State Security Agency and the intelligence divisions of the SAPS and the SANDF. An enormous task in a country deeply divided along political fault lines. The main purpose of oversight is to hold…

Here are four descending levels of functioning: Peter is successful at work and home. He has ups and downs but generally Peter is able to handle everyday pressures at home and at work. Others regard Peter as calm, “together”, and thoughtful. Patricia is very successful at work but her success is very costly to her family. There are frequent conflicts at home over Patricia’s work and her family relationships are frequently tense as a result of her career. Patricia’s family would hardly recognise her at work. Her colleagues would never believe how different she is at home from how she is at work. Paul is deeply roped into his family issues and conflicts and is continually distracted and cannot give his best at work. His career is in jeopardy because…

THE inept Eskom management have blamed anything and everything under the sun for plunging the country into yet another round of rolling blackouts, except themselves. But that can no longer hold. The highly paid Eskom executives, including current chief executive officer Andre de Ruyter and chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer, were brought in to keep the lights on. That task has proven to be beyond them because they have done everything but that. In a normal world, they would have long been fired, but not in our South Africa where their boss, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, is untouchable. If it is not state capture, it’s the lack of maintenance or shortage of skills, and sometimes sabotage. We have yet to hear or see anyone being convicted of sabotaging Eskom.…

SOUTH African office and retail property vacancies are levelling off as more people return to the office and shop more, yielding good liquidity, Growthpoint Properties said yesterday. Growthpoint chief executive Norbert Sasse said the company was “steadily optimising our SA portfolio” on the back of a “strong balance sheet and good liquidity” across its segments. Its total dividend for the full year period to end June 2022 firmed by 8.4 percent to 128.4 cents per share while group property asset values grew by 5.2 percent to R160.8 billion. Soth African real estate investment trust funds from operations for Growthpoint ended the period 13.1 percent stronger at R5.3bn. It saw a 5.1 percent increase in distributable income per share of 155.6c for the reporting…

DURBAN mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has given newly appointed city manager Musa Mbhele three months to produce a turn-around plan that will address the ills that plague the municipality, including cleanliness and worker “laziness”. Kaunda said senior managers who were failing to perform in their jobs should be removed. Chief among the issues Kaunda wants to be attended to, is for the city to rid itself of inept senior officials. He said such officials should be sacked or at the very least, be assigned to areas where they would have minimal negative impact on the city’s programmes. Kaunda was speaking during the rural and township investment summit hosted in Inanda, north of Durban, yesterday. The well-attended summit aims to discuss ways to invest and increase economic activity in rural and township…

ETHEKWINI Municipality has the lofty ambition of one day running its own port. Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda revealed that the city wants to live up to the true definition of being a port city by owning and managing its port. Kaunda said, however, that he was mindful of the problems the city needed to tackle first. “We must first focus on the small things like cleanliness. We cannot run a port if we cannot keep the city clean,” he told people who attended the Township and Rural Investment summit in Inanda township yesterday. The summit was meant to discuss ways of increasing investment in rural areas and townships. The speakers also called for the benefits to extend beyond jobs and include part ownership of the projects being undertaken in these communities.…

As the comment period for the proposed Unlawful Entry on Premises Bill closes on Friday, the public have been urged to have their say. The bill when enacted would repeal the Trespass Act, No 6 of 1959. It proposes that if someone unlawfully gains entry to an enclosed property without permission from the property owner or lawful occupier, they are guilty of an offence, and for property owners to put up clear signage – or give an oral warning to the perpetrator, indicating that entry was prohibited, before calling the police. It also proposes that trespassers can defend against the charge if there was reasonable belief that they had title or interest on the premises that entitles them to enter the property. City of Cape Town safety and security mayoral…

The SANDF has reminded South Africans that using its uniform for entertainment purposes is a criminal offence that will not be tolerated. This comes after an up-and-coming hip hop artist, Vaal President, real name Bernette Macholo, advertised his birthday party on social media using a photoshopped poster showing himself wearing a jacket normally worn by senior defence generals. The event was scheduled to take place at the popular BK Lifestyle Café in Pretoria last Saturday. Spokesperson Brigadier-General Andries Mahapa said possession of military artefacts and impersonating a military officer was a criminal offence in South Africa. He said the SANDF was not associated with the event. “The Chief of the SANDF General Rudzani Maphwanya strongly condemns this irresponsible action and behaviour of impersonating an officer of the SANDF. This matter…

INASMUCH as one would like to take pride in the government’s efforts to grow South Africa, the unfortunate facts speak differently. But, alas, how can it be different if the so-called top-level politicians spend (or waste) their time in Parliament rabble rousing on negative issues? The party in power is – according to daily media reports – spending its misdirected energy on infighting and back-biting. The majority of opposition parties believe that their duty as servants of South Africa is to harp on the president’s apparent (officially) unreported major financial loss through theft. The lame-duck president appears to have forgotten that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. The official unemployment rate in South Africa exceeds 30%, while the extended rate (ie, no longer counting those who have…

When contrasted with mounting overseas data on the adverse effects of Covid-19 vaccines, the posture of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) in noting the occurrence of a second fatality linked to the vaccines it promotes, is unctuously tendentious (The Mercury, September 13). Predictably, the Sahpra statement downplays the particular symptoms that caused the second reported fatality. How many others have not been reported and why? Be that as it may, the significance of Sahpra’s admission of vaccine risk is that it contrasts with the blaring narrative of the past 18 months hailing the safety and efficacy of the Covid jabs. Nonetheless, what was unscientifically dismissed and vilified as “misinformation” can no longer be suppressed. The Centre for Disease Control, doyen of the medical profession, has conceded that…

This September marks 40 months since Western Cape Premier Alan Winde took office. He is two-thirds into his first term and has 20 months left to the next election. The residents of the Western Cape must therefore ask whether the province is a better place than it was 40 months ago. We in the ANC do not think so. Premier Winde and his administration must be the weakest that the Western Cape has ever had. The ANC recently proposed a discussion on the state of the provincial economy and the potential possessed by township economies to dent poverty, unemployment and inequality. The premier did not think this debate important enough to attend. “It is the economy, stupid,” seems to have slipped his mind. Given that our critics often want to…

Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s decision to stand for the position of ANC president has pitted her against Dr Zweli Mkhize who has also emerged as a strong contender for the top job. Over the weekend, her spokesperson, Mlungisi Mtshali, said she had been approached by party branches to contest against Cyril Ramaphosa at the party’s December conference. Mtshali said the branches would nominate candidates and Dlamini Zuma would avail herself should the branches decide to nominate her. At the 2017 elective conference at Nasrec, Dlamini Zuma lost to Ramaphosa by 179 votes. Mkhize, the former health minister, is also believed to be a strong candidate for party president. KZN ANC insiders said Dlamini Zuma’s decision to announce her availability to run as president was a…

KWAZULU-NATAL MEC for Health, Nomagugu Simelane, says there is an urgent need for greater focus on education and awareness of the signs and symptoms of tuberculosis (TB). Simelane was speaking at the opening night of the 7th South African TB Conference being held in Durban this week. She said more programmes would help create a culture of TB prevention; early presentation for screening, testing and treatment; as well as adherence to treatment. “The key to all of this is our ability to intensify our community outreach programmes, and to drive strong and sustainable mass communication efforts – all of which does not come cheap. Unfortunately, the budgetary cuts that we’ve been subjected to have made our job harder.” She said this was something they continued to ask the national Department…

Senzo Meyiwa’s friend, Tumelo Madlala, yesterday hinted that the person who shot the football star was in the courtroom. This followed attempts by the State to have Madlala, who is testifying in the murder trial, point out if he recognised any of the accused in the dock, a move that was suppressed by the defence legal counsel. However, he did indicate that the reason he had requested a break during Tuesday’s proceedings was that he was annoyed at being in the same room as the person who killed Meyiwa. Earlier, he testified that only two men entered the Vosloorus home and demanded money and cellphones from the occupants. Madlala said that following the intrusion, Longwe Twala, the son of music producer Chicco Twala, pushed one of the suspects aside and…

Three traffic department officials were arrested in Mpumalanga yesterday for licensing fraud. The officials were arrested in connection with R60 million motor vehicle licence fee corruption in Mbombela and White River. Hawks Mpumalanga spokesperson Captain Dineo Sekgotodi said two suspects were arrested at the Mbombela Municipality’s traffic department, and one at the White River traffic department. They will appear at the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court today. Road Traffic Management Corporation spokesperson Simon Zwane said the arrest of the three brought to nine the number of officials arrested in connection with licensing fraud. Six administrators were arrested in July and are out on bail. Zwane said the three officials worked as clerks in different registering authorities in Mpumalanga. | Mercury Correspondent…

The vigorous debate around Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the monarchy in general (The Mercury, September12) refers. I would comment as follows: It should be noted that she is not “queen of England”. England has not had a queen for more than 400 years – since the Union of the Crowns of Great Britain in 1604, and the Union of the Parliaments in 1707. Her abbreviated title was Queen of the United Kingdom, or the British Queen. In addition, it is inaccurate to suggest that “she never worked a day in her life!” She was working up to two days before her death, appointing the new British prime minister. If anyone really does believe the role of the monarch is not stressful, then look at the hectic schedules that involve…

Like millions around the world, I watched the news of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth with much interest. Even though I am not a fan of royalty, I was intrigued by all the attention the death of an old woman got. Such an outpouring of grief, such a lengthy mourning period, such a lengthy funeral procession, military parades and gun salutes, so many speeches, so many prayers, the slow march of death from one venue to another and oh so much media coverage. And, I forgot, so many flowers, too! The florists must be coining it. There was nothing but the queen’s death and King Charles on television. At times I felt the British and the media were going overboard and I was irritated. Queen Elizabeth died in…

With a vibrant e-commerce sector, China has much to share Right before this year’s Chinese New Year, Rwanda’s ambassador to China, HE James Kimonyo, delivered some coffee products to a Chinese consumer who ordered the foodstuff from the e-commerce platform JD.com The lucky consumer also received a certificate with the ambassador’s signature thanking her for buying a Rwandan product. Around the same time, Ethiopia’s ambassador to China, HE Teshome Toga, participated in a livestream event with a top Chinese influencer on e-commerce retailer Alibaba’s platform Tmall to launch and sell a brand of Ethiopian coffee in the country. Eleven thousand bags of coffee of the Arada brand were sold in five seconds. With their marketing strategy, Rwanda and Ethiopia are looking to attract consumers in the world’s most populous country.…

DAN ‘Dance’ Malesela’s reported resignation from Royal AM has cast new doubts over the fashionable system of co-coaching in the DStv Premiership. Yesterday news broke that Malesela was set to depart his post as one of the club's three co-coaches and is rumoured to be heading back to Marumo Gallants. The 57-year-old mentor's decision to leave Thwihli Thwahla sent shockwaves throughout the football fraternity, poking further holes into the pedigree and success of technical teams currently employing the 'co-coaching' structure. In the 10 months Malesela spent at the Bahlabane Ba Ntwa last season, he spearheaded their charge up the table and eventually finished in 10th on the DStv Premiership log and claimed the runners-up medal in the Nedbank Cup, losing to Mamelodi Sundowns. Malesela was thereafter shockingly released at…